"Russian president Vladimir Putin. What explains Putin’s success? Two years ago, amid plummeting oil prices, a plummeting ruble, a contracting economy, the flight of investors and sanctions over Crimea, pundits were predicting Russia’s, and Putin’s, demise. Yet Putin’s popularity at home has soared — hovering well above 80 % according to the Associated Press’s and other reputable polls — despite the hardships caused by rising food prices and falling employment.

Western naysayers who dismiss his popularity as rooted in false values — his control over the press, his bare-chested publicity stunts or chauvinism stirred by his military muscle — misunderstand the great respect and moral authority he commands within Russia and neighboring countries.

Putin stands for everything craved by a country debased and diminished by 75 years of 'communism': A principled leader who protects his country from Western aggression, Western contempt and Western values. While we in the West see ourselves as paragons of enlightenment, the envy of the people who don’t enjoy Western-style liberal democracy, only one in 20 Russians wants to become more like us.

The overwhelming majority hews to Putin’s vision of Russian exceptionalism and puritanism. Unlike almost every other country in the world, Russians have rising birth rates and growing families; unlike almost every other country in the West, Russians are undergoing a religious Renaissance.

Putin, who is baptized, is arguably a greater defender of traditional Christian values than the Pope, who has been tolerant of divorce, abortion, gay marriage and the transformation of what was once an unabashedly Holy Christian Europe into a part-atheistic, part-Muslim continent.

The monstrous slaughter at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo brought millions of marchers and scores of world leaders onto the streets of Paris to support free expression. The killings demonstrate how the destructive phenomenon of religious persecution is spreading from Third World dictatorships to First World democracies. Religious minorities long have faced murder and prison around the world. Now the freedom not to believe by majorities in Western democracies is under attack.Charlie Hebdo went out of its way to offend. That isn’t my style or taste. The paper might have exhibited poor judgment. In fact, Charles Wilson of the University of Warwick denounced “free-speech fundamentalism.” However, there is no “but” to free expression, which goes to the very essence of the human person. While good judgment tells us not to express every thought we have, as moral agents responsible for our actions we must be free to assess the world and express ourselves in vibrant public debate.

As Russia celebrates Orthodox Christmas, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill, has delivered his traditional address to believers. He said he prays for peace in Ukraine above all. As millions of worshipers across Russia gathered for Christmas night liturgies on January 6, Patriarch Kirill addressed the Orthodox community with words of peace, paying special attention to the conflict in Ukraine.

“On these holy Christmas days, the prayers of the whole Church and my augmented litany are for peace on the Ukrainian soil,” Kirill said in his address.

He added that “regardless of the place of residence of its children, their political views or preferences,”the Russian Orthodox Church is doing everything possible to bring people together to help them overcome the consequences of conflicts.Patriarch Kirill mentioned that 2015 is the year in which the Orthodox Church celebrates 1,000 years since the death of Vladimir the Great, the ruler who baptized Kievan Rus’ in the 9th century.

The Services of Christmas in the Russian Orthodox Church (Eastern Rite)The Nativity CycleAs Orthodox Christians, we begin the celebration of the Nativity of Christ — on January 6— with a time of preparation. Forty days before the feast of the birth of Our Lord we enter the period of the Christmas Fast: to purify both soul and body to enter properly into and partake of the great spiritual reality of Christ’s Coming. This fasting season does not constitute the intense liturgical season that is characteristic of Great Lent; rather, Christmas Lent is more of an "ascetical" rather than "liturgical" nature. Nevertheless, the Christmas fasting season is reflected in the life of the Church in a number of liturgical notes that announce the coming feast.Within the forty days preparation the theme of the approaching Nativity is introduced in the services and liturgical commemorations, little by little. On the eve of the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, we hear the first announcement from the nine hirmoi of the Christmas Canon: "Christ is born, glorify Him!"

Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian Calendar adopted by the Catholic Church. On the night of January 7, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill led the Christmas service in Moscow' Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the Christmas service at a village church in southern Russia. http://www.playcast.ru/view/7031530/a5d626abeb1b5a68548c13bbb62c730df7a45737pl